The Romanian office market started promising in 2019, given that in the first quarter, approximately 124,500 square meters were leased nationwide, almost 41% more than in the first quarter of last year.

Generali Real Estate, on behalf of Generali Europe Investments Holding (GEIH) Fund, has acquired Piękna 2.0, a landmark office building in Warsaw, from an investment fund advised by Griffin Real Estate.

The Polish real estate market has been on a strong growth path for more than a decade. Its office sector is in good health, evidenced by a high number of new office completions and building permits, rising transaction volumes and the growing capital values of office buildings. On the other hand, the ever-stronger competition is forcing real estate owners to further improve sales processes. Against this backdrop, professional marketing services are becoming critical in effective real estate commercialisation, according to Małgorzata Frąckiewicz, Property Marketing Manager, Office Agency at Cushman & Wakefield.

JLL has been chosen by the White Stone group to manage two office buildings on Cybernetyki St. in Warsaw. Since taking over the management of Cybernetyki 7 and 7a St., JLL is now responsible for a wide range of services in the management of the properties, which includes maintaining relationships with tenants as well as supervising technical, operational and administrative issues. The company began managing the two office buildings shortly after they were bought by the White Stone group.

The valuation department of Cushman & Wakefield Echinox has evaluated over 700 properties with a cumulative value of €4 billion in 2018, while estimating an increase of 25% of the valuation volume, potentially reaching the €5 billion threshold during the year.

Globalworth has completed new acquisitions of two buildings in Poland, Warsaw Trade Tower (WTT) in Warsaw and Rondo Business Park in Krakow, for c. €170 million. Including these recent additions, Globalworth’s Polish portfolio has grown to almost 500,000 sqm of GLA in office and mixed-use properties.

Amsterdam, Stockholm, Helsinki and Dublin are among the major cities featured in a new research report from Cushman & Wakefield into the coworking and flexible office sectors, which pinpoints future demand and the next likely growth hotspots across Europe.

The BNP Paribas Real Estate Poland team was joined at the beginning of March by Piotr Krawczyński who took up the position of Head of Capital Markets CEE. His responsibilities will include client acquisition and coordination of property purchase/sale transactions across Central and Eastern Europe. Furthermore, his scope of duties will also involve consultancy services in respect of property investment finance.

What is Warsaw residents' favourite shopping destination? Shopping centres. In this regard, the residents of Poland's capital differ from the residents of Madrid, Paris or Berlin, who prefer to visit stores located on their respective high streets. However, according to a new report by JLL, with the maturing shopping centre market, the popularity of high streets is increasing as well. As a consequence, high streets have a chance to come back into favour as alternative locations and diversify the expansion strategies of retailers.

Sylwia Pędzińska, Senior Partner at Colliers International and Head of the Workplace Innovation department, has been appointed head of a newly created Innovation & Knowledge department for Colliers’ Polish business. Dorota Osiecka will replace Sylwia as the new director of Workplace Innovation.